This Krugman column is about two years old, but it just came to my attention, and I doubt much has changed since then. The French and the Japanese have been able to get more people wired to the Internet, and their connections are faster as well.
What most Americans probably don’t know is that over the last few years the situation has totally reversed. As the Internet has evolved — in particular, as dial-up has given way to broadband connections using DSL, cable and other high-speed links — it’s the United States that has fallen behind.
The numbers are startling. As recently as 2001, the percentage of the population with high-speed access in Japan and Germany was only half that in the United States. In France it was less than a quarter. By the end of 2006, however, all three countries had more broadband subscribers per 100 people than we did.
Even more striking is the fact that our “high speed” connections are painfully slow by other countries’ standards. According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, French broadband connections are, on average, more than three times as fast as ours. Japanese connections are a dozen times faster. Oh, and access is much cheaper in both countries than it is here.
The reason for this, according to Krugman, is that the French and Japanese have better regulatory policy in place to govern those who who control the pipes from your house to the larger Internet.
For my part, I’ve generally been fairly content with my Internet service, but that could be because I don’t know any better.
As a guy who places helps place the hardware in the ground by acquiring land rights (easements) and doing site location preparation work, I would argue strenuously against this point, understanding I can only speak to the United States.
I have placed hardware in the ground in areas of East St. Louis where literally there are rubble piles where apartment buildings once stood. I asked my boss, “Why are we doing this?” His answer- “It’s political. They tell us we underserve the poor neighborhoods. The City government handpicked this neighborhood as one we should get on.” It was completely absurd. The one cabinet was vandalized before it was operational… except that there was virtually nobody in that distribution area to serve anyhow. Got to get permits here so you can get them there, though.
I have observed the applications to place hardware rejected by Aldermen in Chicago, on perfectly good locations, just to show power. We learned to make multiple applications in Chicago, so that the Aldermen could feel like ‘they chose’ the location, thus feeling powerful.
Hell, the state of Illinois was held up for a year or so by the legislature. I guess it took that long to get the PAC money into the coffers of the legislators.
I have had applications rejected by City Councils, on locations the City Councilor told me to place it.
Etc. The difference in other nations could be that the operation is purely governmental, so these games aren’t played, and the process is streamlined.
That’s a point I probably don’t acknowledge often enough — corrupt government practices can often be more destructive than corrupt business practices.
Asia and Europe are generally ahead of us technologically – the cool gadgets are developed in Asia, released there, then relesed in Europe and if we are *lucky* they eventually trickle down to us.
Asia and Europe are generally ahead of us technologically – the cool gadgets are developed in Asia, released there, then released in Europe and if we are *lucky* they eventually trickle down to us.
I think the worst thing between the extremes of a government controlled utility and a totally free market is a compromise between the two. Often, you screw up the free market yet didn’t put enough control in to actually serve the goal. You need to decide when you’re going to be free market and when a free market just won’t work.
In this case, I’d like to see Mike work for the government (Sorry, Mike). Have a company contracted just like the power company to be in charge of putting fiber everywhere. Let them pull out the old copper POTS wiring while they’re at it. It has served us for a 100 years, it is time to kill it and move on.
The company that creates and cares for the data infrastructure would not be permitted to create content for it, just to sell it off access to it at government controlled rates. Again, just like the power/water/gas companies.
Then, the AT&T’s and Comcast’s of the world can offer Internet/TV/Phone service on it. Let THAT be unbridled free-market. If I get unhappy with AT&T, I can switch to Comcast in 30 minutes. If both suck, some new company can spring up and fill the void without having to spend billions in pulling new cable.
Not on topic…. but… I really miss the ability to search on your site.
Could it be a matter of density? I wonder how those numbers change when the per ca pita comparison is urban only.
>Asia and Europe are generally ahead of us technologically – the cool gadgets are developed in Asia, released there, then released in Europe and if we are *lucky* they eventually trickle down to us.
I don’t think that this is generally true, actually,but I would be interested to hear some examples. Most of the cool gadgets I can think of – just looking around my office – are designed here, manufactured in Asia, and distributed first here, and then in parts of Asia or Europe. Examples would include iPods, iPhones, and GPS devices.
But if there is a cool gadget I don’t know about in Asia or Europe…well, I want it now!
Jason sort of nailed it.
The biggest problem is the entity that owns the infrastructure is also a content provider. They have it in their interest to keep others out.
In good old Battle Ground I have exactly 2 viable broad band options: CenturyTel (my phone company, and only getting DSL availability in the last year) and Comcast (they suck so, but they haven’t really started leaning on folks here yet).
Peter, lol… why yes, looking around your office you *would* see items released in the U.S…. and those are frequently created/released by U.S. businesses… I was speaking to items created in other parts of the world and *not* released here – whereby you would not be seeing them around your office .
Items you *don’t* see:
Toshiba TG01 (telephone)
Samsung AV-R720 (AV receiver)
Those two are ones I’ve been waiting to get my hands on. 22 months ago I did break down and purchased my Flybook V5 tablet from a Taiwanese make through a distributer in Canada. It was finally available in teh states 9 months later.
There are hundreds of phones and phone accessories, but there is also a lot of audio equipment, laptops, computer accessories, displays, televisions, just about all the MIDs…
As a sample, here is a quote from Garmin-Asus about their navigational phone:
“The nüvifone M20 will be available in August in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The nüvifone M20’s distribution strategy for the Asia-Pacific market will differ by country. In Asia, it will be available through carriers and retail channels. The nüvifone M20 is on schedule for delivery in Europe in the second half of 2009, and additional details about pricing, availability and carriers will be announced in the coming months.”
I like to watch the http://www.engadget.com/ website which is where I see a lot of the equipment released elsewhere.
Now… one reason gadgetry comes late (or not at all) to us is the FCC approval process (which I’m not saying is good or bad – just sayin’)
>Not on topic…. but… I really miss the ability to search on your site.
Thank you! And… can clicking on the mast head go to the home (most recent post) page? Miss that one too…
B.
Peter, here is a (very) short article PC World did on the subject: 10 Amazing Gadgets You Can’t Get Here